abroad, and
I expected to have them to play with. Now we can pair off; you and I
can go together and Mary can go with Grace Wharton. I don't suppose,"
she added after a minute, "that it would be quite polite always to have
it that way, for Mary is our own cousin and we can't shove her off on a
stranger."

"Maybe we shall not want to," said Polly. "If she is real nice, Molly,
we won't mind taking turns, or we can all three play together when the
Wharton girl isn't there."

"But don't you ever, ever tell that I said I wasn't sure of wanting
Mary," said Molly impressively.

Polly promised, and just then they were called to luncheon and went
down-stairs with their arms around each other.

_CHAPTER III_

_Mary_

A week later the family was settled for the summer in Miss Ada Reid's
cottage by the sea. In front of them was a stretch of green; beyond
were the jagged rocks, and then came the ocean. The landing was some
distance from the cottage and was upon the bay side of the peninsula,
so, although Polly had caught glimpses of the sea during her journey,
she did not have a clear view of the wide expanse until they had nearly
reached the house and the great blue ocean spread out before her. Then
she danced up and down with sheer joy.

"It is just as big and just as blue as I thought," she cried. "Oh, I
am so happy! I am so happy!"

Molly was delighted at Polly's enthusiasm, for she, too, loved the sea
and the rocks and the wide stretches of grassy hummocks. "There is the
cottage," she told her cousin; "the one peeping over that little hill.
It looks just like a brownie, doesn't it, with its surprised
window-eyes? I always call the cottage 'The Brownie,' and Aunt Ada
says it is a very good name for it, because it is a sort of brown."

"I should call it gray," said Polly.

"It is really gray, but it is a sort of brownish gray, and anyhow I
like the name of Brownie for it. There is Aunt Ada on the porch
watching for us."

Miss Reid came running out to meet them. She gave Molly a hug and a
kiss and then turned to her other niece. "And this is our Polly, isn't
it?" she said. "Bless the dear; I am so glad to see her. Come along
in all of you; I know you are as hungry as hunters and I have dinner
all waiting."

"Oh, Aunt Ada, is there to be baked mackerel?" asked Molly.

"Yes, and lobster salad, too."

"Are the wild roses in bloom yet, and are the wild strawberries ripe?"
queried Molly.

"The